Lately #32: Black Bag, lorazepam and a real night at the museum

Five things to entertain you, and one piece of advice.

On Sundays, we share some of our favourite finds from the week in our Lately newsletter.

Let me tell you what I know about The White Lotus without having watched a single episode of Season 3: Lorazepam, “Piper, no!”, brotherly incest and something about a dirty blender??

I feel like the only person who hasn’t watched, but Gillian has, and was frantically avoiding social media spoilers for 24 hours post-finale; her personal mission impossible. As for me, I’ll have to just blind myself until I catch up!

All this to say we’re going to tag-team this edition so that Gillian can contribute some Lotus chat (and I’ll just have to skip that section!).

Anyone else not watched? We can make a gang of two!

Yara

1. Something we should all be watching…

There have been mixed reviews of Steven Soderbergh’s latest release Black Bag, a sleek espionage drama about two married spies (Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender). If you haven’t watched yet, you’ll very quickly see from the promo pictures that style is at the forefront, and part of the discussion is whether it’s at the expense of story.

At the outset of the shoot Soderbergh told everyone on set that they were making a movie, not a film:

“For me to say it’s a movie, as opposed to being a film, implies a certain level of fun and a tone that isn’t heavy. There’s a version of this movie where you go a very different way. Where you don’t glam it up and you make it grittier and harder and kind of less fun.”

I’m not above the superficial - I want all of Cate’s outfits, they’re impeccable. But, the pull I feel to re-watch is not for the aesthetic, it’s for the pure spark of the character dynamics. Somehow Soderbergh gives us a dialogue-driven spy thriller with almost no violence, yet with all the tension and intrigue we expect.

Let’s take the two dinner scenes the couple host, where the exchanges between the spy colleagues around the table become charged (no spoilers here). I love the way Soderbergh approached filming them:

“You kind of end up thinking about them as the action sequences of the film. Which they are: I really had to think of them like that. They needed the same kind of visual attention and thought that you would give to a traditional action sequence. I thought that there had to be a way to keep this interesting for the audience and develop strategies visually so that there could be an escalation in each scene.”

Those are the scenes that I want to go back and re-watch - they are masterclasses in staging and pacing and holding attention.

So yes, it’s a Hollywood movie, and there are movie stars that look great - but also the dialogue crackles, the twists are surprising and it feels like good, grown-up entertainment.

2. Something everyone HAS been watching…

How about Dubai, Mike?

Don’t worry, Yara, or anyone else who hasn’t seen Season 3 of The White Lotus yet - I’m not here with spoilers. (Social media will be doing that nicely, anyway!). If you have watched, don’t miss

Beth Lisogorsky

’s finale hot takes right here.

I’ll avoid the storyline discussions, but I do want to share this article from the Atlantic, which makes some interesting points about creator Mike White’s writing in a post-“woke” era - because really, is anyone a fan of safe, prim humour? - and because I liked this summation:

“Viewers crave yachts, and hot people, and terrible mistakes, and hot people making terrible mistakes on yachts. Give them that, and underneath you can smuggle the message that it’s all incredibly hollow and unfulfilling.”

The White Lotus has become one of those shows where it’s hard to remember the world before it existed, from Armond’s toilet habits to Tanya and the killer gays to Victoria’s lorazepam. And though I’ve finished this Season, it’s still entertaining me. Thanks to the unique filming set-up - where, in this case, the cast spent six months together in a Thailand ‘summer camp’ - the bts stories and pictures just keep coming. (Anyone else a bit too invested in in Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins?!)

But tell me, what was your favourite Season 3 snapshot moment? Here are some of mine….

And while we’re remembering Laurie’s dinner reconciliation scene, I loved this little insight from Leslie Bibb (who plays Kate):

“The ‘I love yous’ were improvised. That wasn’t in the script. That was happening in real time. There’s a weird thing that happens with this show where you just feel very connected. Art is imitating life. I just felt like there was no acting in that moment.”

3. A soundtrack backstory…

Coming back to those Black Bag dinner scenes, we all know that music can make or break a dinner party and according to Michael Fassbender, his wife, Oscar winner Alicia Vikander “did a little playlist that Steven Soderbergh used in the first dinner scene, so she has a guest credit. DJ Vikarious. That's Alicia.”

So, naturally I’ve added these to my dinner playlist (in case you too want to be musically influenced…)

4. Something that may surprise you…

We’ve come to expect that Greta Gerwig will approach well-known tales in an unexpected way (Little Women, Barbie), and recent casting news for her upcoming adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia is giving us the first hint at the kind of of Gerwig flavour she’ll bring to the story - while also raising a fair bit of controversy.

The news that Meryl Streep is in talks to join the cast to voice the character of Aslan (previously voiced by Liam Neeson) has sparked some uproar over the character’s gender-swap.

As far as we can tell, this is still speculation, but if true it raises interesting questions about the fate of Aslan’s iconic mane. Fans of the story will be thinking of particular story points such as when the White Witch shaves his mane in an attempt to shame him and strip away his identity as King of Narnia, or when Lucy Pevensie hides her face in his mane.

The one thing that can’t be denied is that both Gerwig and Streep will make this surprising choice count!

5. A one-of-a-kind experience…

It’s rare that a competition captures my imagination - but who hasn’t dreamed of a night at the museum (but the grown-up luxury version)? To celebrate its 200th anniversary, The National Gallery in London is offering art-lovers the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sleep among its paintings.

If you fancy a Michelin-star dinner at the gallery’s new restaurant Locatelli, a gallery sleepover and a private, curator-led tour of the biggest ever rehang of their permanent collection before anyone else has had a chance to view it, you need subscribe to the National Gallery’s newsletter here before 6 p.m. BST on April 28 to enter.

Just a quick aside - Is this what it takes to motivate folks to sign up to a newsletter? (asking for a friend…)

Here are a few of the paintings I’d love to see without distraction in the wee hours.

Sunflowers, Vincent Van Gough / The Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck / Bathers, Claude Monet

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One piece of advice:

A close friend recently introduced me to this phrase that she heard from Big Magic author

Elizabeth Gilbert

“I have no cherished outcomes.”

It’s a line from The Celtic Poem of Approach - a poem spoken when meeting new people or when moving into another tribe’s area or when interacting with people in a new way.

At its essence ‘no cherished outcomes’ is about practising the art of openness and no expectations. Here’s the whole poem if you’re curious:

I honour your Gods,

I drink at your well,

I bring an undefended heart to our meeting place,

I have no cherished outcomes,

I will not negotiate by withholding, and

I am not subject to disappointment.